Father’s Day brings back memories of London Broil

By Will MacDonald / Life Editor

Published: Wednesday, June 12, 2013 at 08:05 AM.

8.It’s acoverup. This is for larger cuts of meat and poultry such as a whole chicken or prime rib and when you are not cooking the meat directly over the flames. And patience is a must. Every time you lift the lid, you add 5 to 10 minutes to the overall cooking time.

9.Sit Still. This lets the meat juices settle. When cooking the juices are driven to the center of a roast or steak by the heat. By letting the meat sit the juices are returning to the surface.

10. Stay on duty. You signed up for it, so stick with it. Sure it’s easy to be distracted but for safety and for the best possible grill job, stay with it. And in honor of my Dad, enjoy that Tom Collins. Here’s the recipe.

My dad was a charcoal guy. He was known for his London Broil which he grilled up on special occasions.

Think, the dads of the “Mad Men” era and you’ve got my dad. Sipping his Tom Collins, he’d watch over our dinner getting the char just right and then he’d bring it into the kitchen where the sound of his electricknife slicing it up meat signaled it was time to eat.

This was back before the days of fancy marinades and rubs and long before entire cookbooks were written about cookbooks. His secret? He’d open a bottle of French dressing and marinate the meat all day in the refrigerator. While the charcoal was getting to the perfect shade of gray, he’d get the slab out to warm up to room temperature and then making it look so easy, he’d grill it to perfection.

To this day, his London broil is the most tender I’ve ever eaten.

On Sunday, I’ll be doing grill duty and I’m thinking we’ll go 60’s retro with London Broil, a baked potato and a wedge salad. And I’ll don one of those retro grilling aprons and probably toast Dad with one of those cocktails from a shaker he and mom enjoyed.

For some grilling inspiration, I cam across these tips from Pike’s Nursery.

1. Be prepared and organized. First check your grill. Do you have enough propane? Is there really enough charcoal in the bag? Do you have the marinade or rub you want to use? Are your grilling tools handy and clean? If you’re pulling a steak from the freezer let it thaw in the fridge ahead of time so it will be ready to go. Having to thaw it in the microwave at the last minute can make the piece of meat tough. Think about it – you’re nuking it and then cooking it on a hot grill.

2.Get the ratio right. For you charcoal users out there, getting the amount of charcoal correct can be a challenge. I always seem to get it wrong – too much or usually too little. The experts at Pike recommend you use enough to form a bed of glowing coals three inches larger on all sides than the surface area of the food you’re planning to cook.

3. Preheat the grill. To get the sear on the meat just right, your grill has to be the correct temperature. Here’s something I never knew: for those cool grill marks, the temp must be at least 500 degrees.

4.Clean it twice. The first time to clean the grate comes once you’ve pre-heated the grill. Then after you’ve finished cooking, clean off that food debris. Use a heavy duty metal spatula and long handled-wire brush. Don’t even be tempted that kitchen spatula or other regular utensils.

5.Grease the grate. Here’s a neat trick I learned from the folks at Pike – grab a long pair of tongs and rub the grate evenly with a folded paper towel soaked in oil. You want to pre-treat the grate right before placing the meat on top. A little grease before you grill is going to make cleanup a lot easier.

6. It’s all about timing. Bastes and marinades made from oil and vinegar, citrus or yogurt can be brushed on the meat while cooking. For sugar-based barbecue sauce, apply toward the end of the cooking time to keep the sauce from burning.

7. Leaving the stabbing to those Shakespeare plays! Sure we’re all tempted to puncture that piece of meat with one of those supersized grilling forks but don’t do it. When flipping, use grill appropriate tongs or spatula.

8.It’s acoverup. This is for larger cuts of meat and poultry such as a whole chicken or prime rib and when you are not cooking the meat directly over the flames. And patience is a must. Every time you lift the lid, you add 5 to 10 minutes to the overall cooking time.

9.Sit Still. This lets the meat juices settle. When cooking the juices are driven to the center of a roast or steak by the heat. By letting the meat sit the juices are returning to the surface.

10. Stay on duty. You signed up for it, so stick with it. Sure it’s easy to be distracted but for safety and for the best possible grill job, stay with it. And in honor of my Dad, enjoy that Tom Collins. Here’s the recipe.

TOM COLLINS

2 oz gin

1 oz . lemon juice

1 tsp. superfine sugar

3 oz. club soda

1 marashino cherry

1 slice orange

In a shaker half-filled with ice cubes, combine the gin, lemon juice, and sugar. Shake well. Strain into a collins glass almost filled with ice cubes. Add the club soda. Stir and garnish with the cherry and the orange slice.